A report from an affiliation of independent electric grid operators concludes that the future of the North American power grid depends on effectively adding renewables to the grid, the accuracy and availability of data from “behind-the-meter” resources and coordinating these distributed energy resources at the grid operator level to preserve reliability.

Southwest Power Pool set a wind-penetration record of 52.1 percent at 4:30 a.m., Feb. 12, becoming the first regional transmission organization (RTO) in North America to serve more than 50 percent of its load at a given time with wind energy. The milestone beats a previous North American RTO record of 49.2 percent that SPP set April 24, 2016. Wind penetration is a measure of the amount of total load served by wind at a given time.

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) on Feb. 7 received notice that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approved an application to export energy to Saskpower, Saskatchewan’s leading electricity supplier. Terms of the 5-year export license specify that SPP may export up to 150 MW of instantaneous power and up to 900 GWh of power during any consecutive 12-month period.

At today’s House Subcommittee on Energy hearing titled “The Electricity Sector’s Efforts to Respond to Cybersecurity Threats,” Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Security Officer Barbara Sugg testified on behalf of the ISO-RTO Council (IRC) — of which SPP is a member — an association of North American regional transmission organizations and independent system operators that ensure electric reliability and oversee wholesale electricity markets in their respective regions.

At a meeting in Dallas on Jan. 31, the members of Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a regional power grid operator that ensures access to reliable and affordable sources of electricity, elected Mark Crisson to the company’s board of directors and approved construction of 13 transmission upgrades as part of their Integrated Transmission Planning (ITP) process.

On Dec. 16, 1941, in support of the American war effort, 11 electric utilities agreed to pool their resources to keep power flowing to Jones Mill — an aluminum production facility outside Malvern, Ark. President Franklin Roosevelt’s wartime goal to produce 50,000 airplanes per year had created the need for huge quantities of aluminum, and Jones Mill’s operation would require 120 megawatts of power — exceeding its home state’s installed capacity of 100 MW at the time. From the utilities’ partnership, Southwest Power Pool (SPP) was formed, and the new organization was successful in pooling power to support the plant. After the war, SPP continued as a leader providing safe, reliable power to U.S. homes.

As of September 2016, Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) wholesale electricity markets have reduced the cost of electricity by more than $1 billion since 2014, the regional transmission organization (RTO) announced Tuesday.

Knowing what is occurring in many places at one time — and being able to process that information quickly — is critical to the success of an electric grid operator.

Today, two grid operators are using a visualization tool, designed by their own in-house experts, that is helping their operations teams maintain that awareness more efficiently and effectively than ever before, and it is available at no cost to other entities that can benefit from this type of resource.